Thursday, January 5, 2012

Our officers have had some good finds this year at our checkpoints and we wanted to share our top 10 good catches with you. Some are dangerous, some simply look dangerous and can cause major delays, and others are just plain weird. Click on the links to read more about each good catch.

Top 10:

10)Snakes, turtles, and birds were found at Miami (MIA) and Los Angeles (LAX). I’m just happy there weren’t any lions, tigers, and bears…

9) A science project shut down a checkpoint at Omaha (OMA). I wonder if mentioning the shutting down of the checkpoint added enough flare to his presentation to score him some bonus points?

5)A flare gun with seven flares was found in a passenger’s carry-on bag at Norfolk (ORF). Hmmm… pressurized cabin + 7 live flares = no good can come from this.

4)Two throwing knivesconcealed in hollowed out bookwere found at Washington National (DCA). Killer book…

3)Over 1,200 firearms were discovered at TSA checkpoints across the nation in 2011. Many guns are found loaded with rounds in the chamber. Most passengers simply state they forgot they had a gun in their bag.

2)A loaded .380 pistol was found strapped to passenger’s ankle with the body scanner at Detroit (DTW). You guessed it, he forgot it was there…

1)Small chunks of C4 explosives were found in passenger’s checked luggage in Yuma (YUM). Believe it or not, he was brining it home to show his family.

If you’re interested in reading about more finds such as these, be sure to read our weekly “TSA Week In Review” blog posts, posted every Friday.

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in ourOff Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog postarchives orsearch our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by usingTalk to TSA.

And just think, those Top 10 Finds only cost us, the lowly taxpayer, what $8.1B? Good God, think of the good that could have been done with that money compared to employing a bloated, undereducated work force whose Top 10 Finds don't amount to a hill of beans.

Add this pathetic look at the successes to the scorching information released by Congress and you see that we're paying a lot for little to nothing.

But Bob, seriously, what do ANY of these things have to do with terrorism? Did TSA manage to disrupt a single terrorist plot last year? Sure, you found some criminals, and some criminally dumb people, but nothing on your list says you had any sort of success in preventing terrorism. And that, good sir, is your purpose, no?

And yet, none of these items were carried by anyone who intended to harm any flight. How come you always refuse to mention that, Curtis, and why do you keep hyping items carried by stupid people who didn't mean to cause anyone any harm?

And seriously, the science project? Touting TSA's ability to false alarm on harmless objects is just plain weird. Just like the custom battery packs and other custom electronics you have confiscated over the years, "out of an abundance of caution," in spite of clearing the item and passenger of any wrongdoing.

As an electrical engineer and ham radio operator, I find TSA's consistently inconsistent reactions to electronics that don't come from Walmart or Best Buy quite alarming.

In my opinion, if you want to deny an item passage through the checkpoint, your screeners had better be willing to swear out a criminal complain against the passenger, press charges, testify in court, and personally face charges of filing a false statement if they are shown to have overreacted. Unless the passenger is arrested/charged, the items should not be confiscated. If the passenger is not convicted, the screeners/supervisors involved should be charged. There has to be some semblance of accountability even in TSA's screwed up mindset.

The republican candidates bring up cutting government spending frequently. TSA is a part of this government spending. Does anyone else fear that if a republican becomes president they will decrease the amount of money going to the TSA?

So a science project shut down the checkpoint because the TSA doesn't fire people who are too lazy and inattentive to pay attention to what they were looking at. And this is one of the top 10 good catches of 2011?

All of these items have NOTHING to do with threats to the aircraft or "terrorists"! What a stunning waste of time, energy and taxpayer dollars while violating our Rights and assaulting innocent citizens.

I will have to admit the 2011 was a big year for the TSA. The reputation of your organization sank to new lows after routine reports of wrongdoing within the TSA workforce. Most depictions of your organization in the media are equated with some sort of illicit activity.

Congratulations on a job well done! The TSA became the poster child of government incompetence in 2011. Hopefully, things will go better in 2012; your organization's reputation can not sink much further.

The readers of this TSA blog should well know by now that the purpose & objectives of the TSA have very little to do with terrorism. The TSA has become the search-and-seizure agency representing EVERY law enforcement & regulatory agency of the Federal government--and nothing less than that. The TSA is also the search-and-interrogate arm of every state government and of every local government.

As has been pointed out, very little of the stuff reported here as 'good finds' by TSA have anything to do with terrorism, and everything to do with other issues, most of which have no impact on safety & security of airline travel.

Hidden cash? What does that have to do with the price of eggs? Inert or fake 'munitions'? Nothing to do with airline flight security & safety. Unloaded handguns? Nothing to do with safety & security. 'Gels'? Give us a break!

The TSA should be eliminated altogether. It is now unionized, which is a real clue as to its real purpose--and it has nothing to do with safety & security, and everything to do with increasing union membership so union dues can be collected in higher & higher amounts.

Really, Why hasn't TSA caught a terrorist? Maybe because terrorists don't walk around everyday through airport security trying to get on planes.Do you really believe TSA is going to catch someone everyday. If that is what you believe prepare to be dissapointed. Terrorists will wait years before they try something.TSA is there for the next terrorist attack. Can anyone predict when that is going to be? Didn't think so! Yes, TSA pats down children and grandparents and everyone else who comes through security. Can anyone tell me what a terrorist looks like? Didn't think so!

I would guess that using the billions spent on the TSA to instead put more real police officers on the street would produce a much larger benefit to our safety. The TSA only protects you for a few hours, your local police are protecting you 24/7.

All these people "forgot" they had weapons in their carry-ons or on their bodies? If they are that stupid and irresponsible, they should automatically lose their right to own a weapon since they have proven they do not have the mental capacity to use one responsibly.

I am actually in support of TSA. With a world full of bad and crazy people, I don't trust that 74 year old man with a gun strapped to him. Or anyone else with a gun trying to board a plane. I'm fine with being patted down and searched if it means a safer flight. We can all complain about tax money funding TSA and be annoyed by their silly mistakes.. But had that cupcake actually had something hidden in it and had it made it past TSA and caused harm to people, you would all be complaining about how they didn't stop the cupcake. I think we should all be grateful for people out there trying to make a safer world and also for the thousands of jobs that TSA creates.

My mother once packed three cans of hair mousse and hairspray bound together into a bundle with duct tape inside a ziplock. I had no idea that she did this and was totally surprised when they wanted to search the bag. It must have looked like a bunch of sticks of dynamite in the x-ray machine!

In the interest of full disclosure, I submit the following list (not at all comprehensive) as:

"The Peoples' Top 24 Good Catches of 2011" -- Part 1

1. Jan 27: A Transportation Security Administration agent has been charged with theft after attempting to steal a laptop at Memphis International Airport. Ricky German, 48, was charged Wednesday with theft of property over $1,000 but less than $10,000. The incident occurred Dec. 20; it's uncertain why it took so long for charges to be filed.

2. Feb 16: Two employees with the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) have been arrested and are facing charges after allegedly stealing tens of thousands of dollars from checked baggage at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. WNBC-TV reported that Coumar Persad, 36, and Davon Webb, 30, are expected to each face felony charges of grand larceny, conspiracy and possession of stolen property. They are also expected to face a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct.

3. Feb 16: An Indianapolis Transportation Security Administration employee was arrested on a battery charge after scuffling with a gift shop employee at Indianapolis International Airport's parking garage on Tuesday. told officers that the TSA employee, later identified as Michael Merriman, 59, of Mooresville, approached the driver's side door of his car, shook an angry fist at him and said, "You'll never do that to me again."

6. May 10: 31-year-old TSA officer Ryan Driscoll was arrested at LAX for allegedly stealing from a traveler’s suitcase.

7. May 18: A Transportation Security Administration worker was jailed early Tuesday after he was arrested at Orlando International Airport. Rynel Delacruz, 25, faces a personal conduct and weapons charge. He was released later Tuesday after posting $250 bail.

8. May 20: A TSA screener jumped aboard a JetBlue flight to the Dominican Republic last weekend without a ticket, the New York Post reported Friday. Carlos Rodriguez, a TSA screener at JFK airport, got an employee pass from a JetBlue employee friend, to board the flight. The screener, who insisted that he was allowed to sit in a jump seat in the main cabin, caught the pilot's eye 45 minutes into the flight. The pilot turned the flight around and headed back to Kennedy Airport to drop off the screener.

9. Jun 3: A DeWitt man today was denied a reduction in the bail holding him in jail on child molestation charges. David J. Blom, 49, of Radcliffe Road, is being held in jail with bail set at $10,000 cash or $40,000 bond. He is facing two felony counts of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child. Assistant District Attorney Andrew Tarkowski said Blom is accused of molesting two girls from 1997 through 2006. The victims are now 21 and 20, he said. Blom has been employed in airport security by the Transportation Security Administration for the past eight years and is active in St. David's Church.

10. Jun 3: A former security officer at Orlando International Airport has been accused of stealing computers from travelers' bags. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Elliot Iglesias was indicted on charges of taking four laptops from checked luggage in March.

11. Jun 7: A former Transportation Security Administration supervisor at Newark International Airport was sentenced to 30 months in prison Tuesday for accepting bribes and kickbacks from a coworker who allegedly stole money regularly from passengers during security screenings. Michael Arato, 42 years old, of Ewing, N.J., had previously pleaded guilty on the charges.

12. Jun 10: TSA released a statement announcing that it had identified 30 employees at the Honolulu International Airport for potential termination "following an extensive investigation into allegations of improper screening of checked baggage."

13. Jun 18: A week before Yashou was collared, police arrested 49-year-old security agent Karla Morgan at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Morgan was caught in a sting operation in which an undercover officer gave her a wallet he said he had found with $1,000 inside. Morgan put the wallet in her backpack and walked out of the airport. Officers arrested her in a parking lot, according to local news stations.

14. Jun 25: Another Transportation Security Administration worker was arrested Thursday at Los Angeles International Airport on suspicion of stealing items from passengers’ bags, police said. Members of a task force investigating thefts at the airport arrested Paul Yashou, 37, said Officer Bruce Borihanh of the Los Angeles Police Department.

15. Sep 13: Three Transportation Security Administration officers and two police officers are among 20 people arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiring to distribute tens of thousands of oxycodone painkillers for illegal sale from Florida to Connecticut, according to U.S. Attorney of Connecticut David B. Fein.

16. Sep 18: A high-ranking TSA official has been arrested in connection with the death of 43-year-old Stacey Wright, who was found dead earlier this week inside her D'Iberville apartment.Investigators said Benitez and Wright both worked for the Transportation Security Administration. Benitez is second in command at Jackson's TSA.

17. Sep 20: A federal judge in New Jersey has sentenced a lead transportation security officer at Newark Liberty Airport to six months of home confinement for stealing money from passengers' bags as they underwent security screenings. Transportation Security Administration officer Al Raimi pleaded guilty in February, admitting he and his supervisor regularly stole money from travelers. He was sentenced Tuesday.

18. Sep 28: A Transportation Security Administration agent was arrested this week on federal charges for her role in an alleged phony marriage scheme that sought to secure U.S. citizenship for her purported spouse, a Lebanon native.The case against Krista Taha, 34, is, in part, based on information provided by two male TSA agents who told investigators that they dated her while she was reportedly married to Ali Taha

19. Oct 17: The son of a former L.A. city fire chief was under arrest Monday for allegedly bribing a Transportation Security Administration agent at LAX to help him smuggle marijuana onto a flight, authorities said. Millage Peaks, 23, the son of former Los Angeles Fire Chief Millage Peaks, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of bribing a public official. TSA employee Dianna Perez, 28, of Inglewood, also was arrested for allegedly accepting the bribe, said Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles.

20. Nov 1: An Orange County man faces child porn charges, records show, stemming from images authorities say he possessed while working as a TSA employee at Orlando International Airport. A Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman said that Paul David Rains, 62, no longer works for the agency, as of Monday. He was arrested at his home on Havasu Drive about 1:30 p.m.

21. Nov 20: A Transportation Security Administration employee is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Manassas. The suspect, Harold Glen Rodman, 52, allegedly was wearing his uniform and displayed a badge to the victim, a 37-year-old woman. He is charged with aggravated sexual battery, object sexual penetration, forcible sodomy and abduction with intent to defile.

22. Dec 1: A Minneapolis man who lost his job with the Transportation Security Administration for an off-duty assault of an elderly Somali man has been sentenced to six months in prison for the hate crime. George Thompson, 64, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Minneapolis under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Thompson's case was the first prosecuted under the act.

23. Dec 13: A former employee of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has pleaded guilty to having thousands of child pornography images and videos on his home computers. Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Andrew Cheever of Lowell entered his plea on Monday and faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 22.

24. ...and, the highlight of 2011:

A former federal airport security screener was sentenced to two years in prison for helping drug suspects evade security and smuggle money through a New York airport.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Arcara sentenced Minnetta Walker at the high end of federal guidelines, because of the seriousness of the crime and the importance of airport security.

Walker says she would take back her actions if she could.

Walker was a nine-year veteran of the Transportation Safety Administration, was working at Buffalo Niagara International Airport when she was arrested last March. Investigators say she helped alleged drug suspects get large sums of money past security and to alert suspects that undercover officers were in the building.

Walker pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Simply amazing. THIS is the best they can report as their top Ten? These are all THINGS, not criminals or terrorists or others intending to do harm. I assume if they had stopped even ONE person subsequently arrested, charged, or convicted, that that would deserve a mention. But no, not one!!! It's all theatre (of the absurd); the French would love it. I can only assume that there were just as many guns, etc. going on board before TSA, as after it. And yet can anyone remember any UNINTENDED gunfire incidents onboard commercial aircraft? Stopping things rather than people is worse than pointless. Clearly the purpose of the TSA is to hassle and disrupt air travel, not protect it.

Bob - Could the TSA please start reporting on the number of liquid explosive devices confiscated at checkpoints? Oh, sure, the rest of us call them water bottles but if you can call a hunk of metal a "grenade," we should be consistent.

People... there was airport security at airports before TSA. TSA is not just for terrorrist. It is for security period. A man who brings a gun to a checkpoint is a crminal. You bring a gun inside of a bank you area criminal. You bring a gun inside a post office, you are a criminal. Some places, guns and other weapons are not allowed perid. Sometimes it feels like people are trying their best to turn positives into negative as far as TSA is concerned. What you mad they took your snow globe? Get over it

Anonymous said...Really, Why hasn't TSA caught a terrorist? Maybe because terrorists don't walk around everyday through airport security trying to get on planes.

So, do you want to live in fear all of your life? Remember, when you go to the mall, cross the street, stop for gas, go to the grocery store, none of those people have been screened for potential terrorism.

Perhaps if you're that worried, you need to also think about all of the above, then just lock yourself in your home and live out your life looking out the window. That is unless someone breaks in.....

Personally, I don't want to live like that, and refuse to be that paranoid. (And I HAVE been the victim of a crime!)

"But had that cupcake actually had something hidden in it and had it made it past TSA and caused harm to people, you would all be complaining about how they didn't stop the cupcake."

Nope, not at all. The TSA does very little - particularly relative to its cost - to increase safety. You need to understand that you feeling safer has little to do with actually being safer. Leave security to the professionals. Everyone will be better off that way.

"I am actually in support of TSA. With a world full of bad and crazy people, I don't trust that 74 year old man with a gun strapped to him. Or anyone else with a gun trying to board a plane. I'm fine with being patted down and searched if it means a safer flight. We can all complain about tax money funding TSA and be annoyed by their silly mistakes.. But had that cupcake actually had something hidden in it and had it made it past TSA and caused harm to people, you would all be complaining about how they didn't stop the cupcake. "

Well, there's the problem. See, I don't trust you and need you to stay off airplanes. You're not a threat? Sorry, security is based on feelings and I'm still unwilling to allow you aboard. Sorry.

"I think we should all be grateful for people out there trying to make a safer world and also for the thousands of jobs that TSA creates."

Why don't we have them sweep up the streets and patch potholes? The traveling public will be every bit as safe, the traveling public will be as safe and at least I'll be getting something meaningful for my tax dollars.

"All these people "forgot" they had weapons in their carry-ons or on their bodies? If they are that stupid and irresponsible, they should automatically lose their right to own a weapon since they have proven they do not have the mental capacity to use one responsibly."

See? That's the problem. People do not lose rights in America "automatically." We are on the road to a police state when people believe tripe such as this.

Quoted:"See? That's the problem. People do not lose rights in America "automatically." We are on the road to a police state when people believe tripe such as this.

January 6, 2012 8:09 PM"---------------Really, you mean like losing your driver's license for DUI? Or a mandatory year in jail for an unregistered handgun or any number of other laws with mandatory sentences...?You bring a weapon through a checkpoint, you should lose your permit. How is that out of line with any other mandatory sentences?

mad you guys never hear about all the drugs that come through the airport from various cities everyday or the dry runs that terrorist are planning. People this is real. weapons are found on a daily basis. you would really be surprised. i wish there was a way you could experience on a day to day basis what our tsa personnel have to go through and yes there are some people that tsa should but for the most part tsa should be commended

What is funny to me is the fact that the majority of you people posted anonymously. I often wonder what many of you do for a living that makes you so bitter. Do none of you actually take the time out of your busy low-life schedule to think of the big picture? I don't see any of you actually doing anything about all of your complaints. Does anyone here have half a brain to understand that you are flying on a plane and it should be secure? What, pray tell, can anyone here offer as a solution? Should we fly with no security and simply go on our hopes and beliefs in a monotheistic god? Should we go fly with the arrogant attitude that "nothing will happen this time". In my opinion, those who bash this system are very uneducated and lack the proper information to form an educated thought that makes sense. It saddens me that many people are so negative about something that helps protect them. Until I see anyone come up with a better idea on how to secure transportation, I suggest we take what we can get.

Make Toreno said... So a science project shut down the checkpoint because the TSA doesn't fire people who are too lazy and inattentive to pay attention to what they were looking at. And this is one of the top 10 good catches of 2011?------I was there Mike. I saw the xray image, I know what it looked like, and what I was looking at. You don’t know what you are talking about. Like another poster said a little while back, “Get an education”.

The TSA has accomplished something -- getting us to politely and docilely hand over our civil liberties. I wrote about this, and how Americans need to stand up for our civil liberties, in an op-ed that Pravda ended up publishing when all the large mainstream American outlets I sent it to rejected it (the erosion of civil liberties in America seems of little interest to many):

I'm cross-posting this comment on my blog, along with the notion that it may not be approved here. Free speech is not something the TSA condones. In fact, as I mention in the piece, the TSA puts a chill on free speech with, for example, a sign, in Denver International Airport, offers the vague warning that "verbal abuse" of agents will "not be tolerated." Not surprisingly, few seem willing to speak out and risk arrest.

I'm a CPL in the Marines. My sister works as a TSA at a Airport in Hawaii. I can come up with hundreds of scenarios to everything they listed on the TOP TEN findings. Maybe you should let the people do their Jobs and Protect the Flights and their passengers. Every time you should Fly on a Plane and land at your destination safely, maybe you should thank those who didn't allow someone with a knife sock, cell phone taser or gun strapped to their ankle.

Any terrorists discovered? You forgot to mention the highly dangerous tube of toothpaste confiscated from me. Of course, after finding this "security threat" in my bag I was then allowed to fly. Surely if I was attempting to smuggle something dangerous onto the aircraft then I should have at least been given the pleasure of a full body search. Maybe you were afraid I would attempt to clean somebody's teeth?

imagine what some people will take on an airplane if the tsa were not there, i do not mind a little humiliation if i am going to be safe at 30,000 feet in the air. Alan.

January 5, 2012 3:34 PM

Hey, genius: a bomb is deadly in many places, not just in the air. I assume you shake with fear every time you get on a bus, go to a library, shop in a grocery store etc. etc. After all, no one has been humiliated to calm your paranoia, right?

I'm rather amazed that the top 10 is up and allowed to demonstrate the waste of our tax dollars, and even more amazed that these comments were allowed at all.Probably part of that robotic like following of rules one usually find in the government.I've found other means of travelling after the abuse was started, but I would be perfectly willing to have myself and my family at risk for being blown up mid air to save everyone the security theatre. Never mind investing the money into real security enhancements such as good old fashion police work. Which is what has caught all the terrorists to date.

So far what I read was that the TSA found 10 items that had nothing to do with anyone actually planning to hijack the plane or do anything actually harmful to the other passengers. If this is your Top 10 for 2011 then your entire organization is uselss and I vote that we give up on the TSA and move your almost $1B/year budget back into education of our children.

The TSA was not needed one hour and one minute after Tower II was hit!

The paradigm, the norm, the expected, what everyone was taught to do was to sit down, shut up and wait for the plane to land and the negotiations happen. That was the model from Entebbe onward.

The passengers on board did not really know what was about to happen on September 11, 2001 at 8:46:30 when Flight 11 struck Tower I.

Even the passengers on Flight 175 probably didn't realize what was about to happen when they struck Tower II at 9:03:02.

The Pentagon crash of Flight 77 at 9:37:46 may have been still a matter of ignorance.

At 10:03:11 on September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after the brave souls counter-attacked and caused the hijackers to crash the plane.

The time difference is 60 minutes and 9 seconds from Tower II being struck to the crash of Flight 93.

The shoe bomber and panty bomber were taken down by passengers as well. Additionally how many times have you heard of passengers' concerns, restrained passengers and diverted flights? This has all been done by the flight crews and fellow passengers. The Theater Security Agents were nowhere in sight.

I had a recent bunch of BS dumped on me for wanting a hand scan for a 10 ml container of liquid. Note that the typical shot glass is 44.4 ml.

The TSA is and has always been a joke, no make that a total stupidity, that has wasted our country's fortune going down a rabbit hole.

"Until I see anyone come up with a better idea on how to secure transportation, I suggest we take what we can get."

This blog has been full of suggestions on how to improve security. Here's a start:

1. Hire a prefessional workforce. Non-HS grads don't cut it.

2. Realize that the threat is not water bottles, gun-shaped jewelry or cupcakes but explosives.

3. Profile, profile, profile. Yes, there's a chance that the 84 year-old grandmother is carrying a bomb in her back brace but the threat is not senior citizens. Pious spouting of "profiling is wrong and doesn't improve security" is wrong on both counts.

I think its funny that the blog doesn't mention how those handguns could have been caught just as easily pre-9/11, and even before the Christmas bombing attempt.

I also think its funny how they say "you don't have a right to fly". They are right, too. You can drive. Next, there is going to be an attack on a bridge or tunnel system, and when they start doing full searches of cars on the highway, they are going to say "you don't have a right to drive". Don't mind me though, I'll just be home, curled in the fetal posistion in a corner, scared.

Is this what America has come to these days? I was shocked to learn that TSA agents only go through 2 weeks of training...terroists go through months, if not years. Who do you think is going to win?

Call me crazy, but am I the only person who does feel safer knowing that on my plane, there isn't someone with knives in their books, guns on their ankles and spikes in their shoes? You get me at a vulnerable 30,000 feet, and I don't want anything sharper than a q-tip in the hands of some of the crazies I see flying. And what if someone did conceal a gel-type explosive as a cupcake and the TSA missed it? Who would get the blame then? Surely not all the people who whined about them taking it in the first place. It's a lose-lose job to be in- you take something you get ridiculed, you miss something, you get that and much worse. I respect their job and while it is a 5 (maybe 10) minute hassle, I would rather spend that time in line than the alternative.

"[T]he truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission.

How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror."

Now I walk into the SLC bound for a direct flight to DFW (Dallas-Fort-Worth). My travel on an airplane makes me a level III felon and a terrorist? Or is it I'm unsafe in the air, but I'm safe on the ground?

What about if commonly carry a multi-tool in a sheath on my belt? I have no criminal record and have never pulled it in an offensive manner. What makes me more likely to pull it on an aircraft?

Why were the passengers of Flight 93 able to bring down the aircraft with the simple restrictions back then?

The answer is simple -- it is not the weapon -- it is the intent. Once Flight 93 realized the intent, they took down the hijackers.

September 11, 2001 was a one time deal. It will never be repeated. If the laws and regulations on flyers were taken off on that day, I would feel infinitely safer.

The TSA could be good, effective, efficient, and it could respect the passengers that keep them in business. It could be a good organization. I don't want it to disappear, and I don't want snakes or unloaded guns or inert mines on my plane. But I want to make it through security without the loss of time and, yes, dignity, that the TSA seems determined to confiscate.

Step 1 to being a well liked organization: let people eat their cupcakes.

Anonymous said..."Call me crazy, but am I the only person who does feel safer knowing that on my plane, there isn't someone with knives in their books, guns on their ankles and spikes in their shoes?"

You are assuming that the TSA is actually catching all those items and preventing them from getting on the airplane - very bad assumption.

The TSA is nothing but a modern version of the Maginot Line.

You are also assuming that keeping weapons off the plane makes you safer - also a very bad assumption. The TSA has actually created a great terrorist target in the security line. Your over all safety isn't any better.

Unknown wrote: "What is funny to me is the fact that the majority of you people posted anonymously."

Haha! This comment comes from someone by the name 'Unknown'.

"What, pray tell, can anyone here offer as a solution?"

OK, here is my solution: Since 9/11, all attempted terrorists have been stopped by passengers. Therefore, give passengers more power.

Add a locked paintball gun and alarm button to every seat on the plane. Add cameras so that the pilot can see the passengers. If a passenger sees a terrorist trying to blow up the plane, he presses the alarm button. The co-pilot checks the monitor to see if the alarm is valid, and if so, unlocks all paintball guns with a switch. The terrorist won't stand a chance.

I love how ignorant most of these comments are. TSA doesn't solely focus on terrorism.

And in response to "why should airplanes be the only thing secured"....does it occure to you that an airplane is one giant vulnerable explosive at 30,000 feet in the air. It can be manipulated to go anywhere the target desires. Where as a bus or train does less damage.

Uhmm, lets see, "Top Ten Finds" divided by 6.7 Billion Dollar annual budget. IS that's about $780,000,000 dollars per item. Great work DHS and TSA keep up the good work of spending us into oblivion. =)

Unknown said..."And in response to "why should airplanes be the only thing secured"....does it occure to you that an airplane is one giant vulnerable explosive at 30,000 feet in the air. It can be manipulated to go anywhere the target desires."

I'm not the TSA's hugest fan, but maybe commenting should be disabled if all it is going to be is a diatribarama. They are in the classic no-win position when it comes to the public.

I'm surprised to find the number of people who don't realize that there is a huge black market in smuggled exotic animals. Those snakes, fish and parrots are typically contraband and worth millions.

Talk to any prison or jail guard, Border Patrol Agent or Agriculture inspector about the amount of stuff concealed in food products. A creative criminal will find all kinds of places to conceal stuff. What's worse is that they will find a scheme to have a third party transport it, who doesn't have a clue as to what they actually have. A cupcake-sized chunk of Semtex or C4 detonated over the main spar of an aircraft wing is going to result in a huge smoking hole in the ground.

Just before Christmas, one of my presents -Play-Doh- was confiscated at Newark. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. The TSA lady was very nice and said it could be explosives, yet it's still incredibly ridiculous. I'm sure there could be another top 10 for this kind of find.

In fact all this carrying on by TSA is really one big win for the terrorists and dissidents. They have made the US spend billions that they would not have done pre 2001, and inconvenienced its citizens and visitors from all over the world, and eroded the civil rights that the US has long espoused and held up as a banner to the rest of the world. Even were they to never ever try another airline attack again, this has been a big victory for them.

You care if there are inert mines on the airplane? If TSA screening was at all effective at finding explosive, when someone pulled out a mine and made a threat, passengers would laugh. It's precisely the poor performance of TSA screening that makes the strongest argument for prohibiting inert items on the airplane; everyone knows that TSA performance is horrible, missing 70% of contraband.

It's also funny the poster worries about snakes and unloaded guns on airplanes. The passenger with antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis is a MUCH larger risk yet the TSA provides no screening at all people with communicable diseases.

"Just before Christmas, one of my presents -Play-Doh- was confiscated at Newark. Apparently, I wasn't the only one. The TSA lady was very nice and said it could be explosives, yet it's still incredibly ridiculous. I'm sure there could be another top 10 for this kind of find."

I think I'll have bumper stickers made that say, "$100B spent on the TSA and it can't tell a cupcake from a bomb." The sequel will be "TSA: $100B spent and it can't tell Play-Doh from plastic explosive."

The cupcake was probably more of a threat than the C4. Without a detonator it is about impossible to detonate C4. You can heat it, hammer it, shoot it, microwave it and it will do less than the cupcake.....

They have also gone back to deleting comments that note TSOs are not required to be high school graduates. I think the TSA (at least the blog masters) believe that a little free speech is a good thing but can't allow it to go too far.

TSA makes me sick. I mean you found some knifes and cutters and whatever else you get all proud of having found all along being completely oblivious to the fact that you are supposed to be catching TERRORISTS! Never mind the rest of this stuff which stuff was around for a hundred years before TSA ever entered the picture!

Terrorists are mainly stopped before they cross borders. Intelligence and law enforcement work achieves this. Several suspects have been arrested, though, upon entering the U.S.

Comparing to international standards, TSA measures go too far and mostly have a negative impact on the U.S. travel industry and law-abiding travelers. I hope TSA revisits some of them, which would not affect security at all.

I am sorry to say this but when your government keeps yelling wolf like the boy in the tale then people stop to take them seriously. Your loosing the information war and moral values that once the free world respected and followed. They suffer from information overload which is just as bad as not enough information. Your out of balance. Without taking heed of your forefathers founding document you are bound to repeat the same mistakes as those that came and went before you. My 10 cents worth from NZ.

Everybody who is complaining on here and advocating the dissolution of TSA (and I dislike it as much as anybody, flying 2-3 times per week), I assume that you would be OK with the occasional plane going down. If you can honestly say that, then you are at least consistent in your thoughts. Perfection is expensive, and unfortunately, the American people in general are not accepting of anything less than perfection. That last 1-2% is very expensive, but that's what we routinely demand. That's where Six Sigma came from.This system was modeled in 2001 after the Israeli airport security system, so you probably should blame them while you're at it.

I find it funny that most of the people say the tsa has not found 1 terroist. How about looking at it from this standpoint... Has anything happened post 9/11 since tsa took over? No. They are there to deter the terroist from attempting a plot against our country. sad that no one can sit back and see that.

OK... how many terrorists have you caught ? how many felons with warrants have you arrested ?ans. NONE and mind you thats after al these years and all the airports in the USA. Why don't you use some common sense and search those ppl that fall under the description of terrorists and stop searching people that don't fit the terrorist profile..there is a profile USE IT .. and stop the searching of every 10th person you now use..there is no more room for political correctness..

with the exception of the non-metallic spike found in someone's sock, (not sure how that would be able to take down a plane - Bob?), all of these "good catches" were found (or could have been found) using less expensive & less invasive, and far healthier pre-9/11 technology - namely the baggage x-way & the metal detector. Tell me again why we need to be irradiated & get felt up to catch these?

TSA may not be perfect, but it consists of more than just screeners, such as air marshals. People criticize the body scanners, but metal detectors only pick up metal. If any of you critics searched on how to make a bomb, you would see how easy it is to do. Next time you complain about liquids or taking off shoes, do a search of the shoe bomber, underware bomber etc, (these people are being screened initially outside of America). I'm sure if any of you lost someone on 9-11, you would be grateful for the extra security, I know I am.

This may be a re-post of my earlier comment, but no one has challenged it yet.==========================================The TSA was not needed one hour and one minute after Tower II was hit!

The paradigm, the norm, the expected, what everyone was taught to do was to sit down, shut up and wait for the plane to land and the negotiations happen. That was the model from Entebbe onward.

The passengers on board did not really know what was about to happen on September 11, 2001 at 8:46:30 when Flight 11 struck Tower I.

Even the passengers on Flight 175 probably didn't realize what was about to happen when they struck Tower II at 9:03:02.

The Pentagon crash of Flight 77 at 9:37:46 may have been still a matter of ignorance.

At 10:03:11 on September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after the brave souls counter-attacked and caused the hijackers to crash the plane.

The time difference is 60 minutes and 9 seconds from Tower II being struck to the crash of Flight 93. The shoe bomber and panty bomber were taken down by fellow passengers as well. Recently, JetBlue's Flight 191 pilot was taken down by the passengers once he was out of the cockpit. Additionally how many times have you heard of passengers' concerns and diverted flights?

The TSA is and has always been a joke, no make that a total stupidity, that has wasted our country's fortune going down a rabbit hole.

How many of these items would have been caught by a combination of metal detectors, un-enhanced pat downs, and infrared cameras?

Why don't you use infrared cameras? I can buy a good one for a hundred dollars that can detect temperature variations inside the body. If you used this at an airport you could see at a glance everyone. You could detect if an object is hidden even inside the body because of temperature variations and since it doesn't have to emit anything to function you don't need to slow lines down. You could in fact use this simple technology to speed up lines and decrease the number of people stopped at the airport.

From what I understand about the body scanners they cannot detect objects inside the body, or pressed into the contour of the body. I recall reading about a known terrorist who pretended to defect and then blew himself up right next to a prince after going through an identical scanner in another country. He would have been caught if they didn't rely on the body scanners too much. Care to provide direct evidence that these scanners are worth the high cost to both tax payers and civil rights?

So basically, the TSA has stopped ZERO terrorists, just made it more difficult to travel and cost thousands of American's millions of $$$ having to throw away perfume, sun screen and pocket knives. I don't feel safer at the gate (I fly every week), only annoyed with the nasty attitude MOST TSA agents carry with them and the long lines created by this foolishness. If every passenger were armed, there would be no terrorist threat.

"I'm not the TSA's hugest fan, but maybe commenting should be disabled if all it is going to be is a diatribarama. They are in the classic no-win position when it comes to the public."

It just so happens that public opinion is very important when they are the ones paying your salary. The public has every right to make their position known and demand immediate change. Frankly, that's our job.